President Trump’s crime emergency in Washington, D.C., has ended. But both supporters and critics in D.C. say it will have lasting change.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
President Trump’s declared crime emergency in Washington, D.C., is over. As of Thursday, the federal government can no longer exert control over the district’s police force, but National Guard troops and federal agents remain for now. We sent NPR’s Jennifer Ludden to see how D.C. residents are feeling.
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JENNIFER LUDDEN, BYLINE: I head first to the Southeast D.C. neighborhood of Congress Heights, an area with high poverty and a history of high crime. Thirty-two-year-old Michael Jackson (ph) is waiting for a bus in a yellow vest for his job in maintenance and cleanup. He also lives nearby and says he’s seen positive change the past month.
MICHAEL JACKSON: No more hanging out. You don’t hear a lot of gun noises, a lot of gunshots. It’s a lot more peaceful.
LUDDEN: D.C.’s police department says violent crime during the surge fell 39% compared to the same time period last year. Jackson thinks the amped-up security sent a message to would-be criminals.
JACKSON: Do they really want to be involved with the ATF, FBI? So that gave criminals a chance to think, like, do the right thing.
LUDDEN: So does he worry that will end now that federal control of the police is over? Jackson says, no, he hopes not.
JACKSON: ‘Cause of Donald Trump. I think if he feel like doing it again, I think he can do it again if he wants to.
LUDDEN: Then a bus pulls up.
Is this your bus?
JACKSON: Yes, ma’am.
LUDDEN: Thank you.
JACKSON: Thank you, ma’am. You have a blessed (ph).
LUDDEN: You, too. Bye-bye.
A couple blocks down, Deuce Shelton (ph) is out for an errand. She’s a retired preschool teacher and says crime here had already fallen before the federal takeover. The only change she’s seen are the many National Guard troops posted near tourist sites, metro stations and Union Station, a major transportation hub.
DEUCE SHELTON: When I did go downtown, I would notice them basically harassing homeless people.
LUDDEN: The White House says 50 homeless encampments have been dismantled during the surge. It’s part of Trump’s push to beautify the city. As for tackling crime, Shelton’s not convinced.
SHELTON: The guy’s an actor. Everything’s a show.
LUDDEN: She says the takeover did not worry her much. The district’s always had an adversarial view toward federal oversight. But she thinks this is part of Trump’s strategy to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.
SHELTON: I just think it’s a game to see how we’re going to react to that. And also a game to see, oh, well, if we did it in D.C., we’ll do it in this city, this city, this city.
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LUDDEN: Less than a half-hour metro ride away is the gentrifying U Street neighborhood. Early on, federal agents set up traffic checks here, arresting people for minor violations. The area’s also full of restaurants with Latino workers, who’ve been a target for immigration enforcement. Anna Garcia (ph) works in the area and worries this will have a lasting hit to the local economy.
ANNA GARCIA: I just think people are afraid to come to the city now. So I’ve seen a lot of restaurants not busy anymore.
LUDDEN: D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser says local police will no longer work alongside federal immigration agents. Around the corner, I chat with Abigail Friedman. She had a career in the State Department and is retired now – probably exactly who you’d think would feel reassured by more security forces, she says, but she did not.
ABIGAIL FRIEDMAN: Really unsettling. I didn’t feel safe. I felt like things could happen to me or to any of my neighbors or friends any time. Things could get out of hand.
LUDDEN: It made her think of an assignment in Afghanistan years ago with the military. The American soldiers there were always asking, why aren’t the Afghans happy we’re here to protect them?
FRIEDMAN: When the National Guard came, and ICE and Border Patrol, all of this stuff showed up here, I understood exactly how the Afghan people felt.
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LUDDEN: Friedman calls Trump’s D.C. push a, quote, “fig leaf for authoritarian rule,” and it’s made her think a lot more about how vulnerable the city is with its limited home rule.
FRIEDMAN: I think the future means that those of us who live here have got to be more conscious about defending our rights because if we don’t speak up, we’re just going to lose more and more and more all the time.
LUDDEN: In fact, the very day Trump’s crime emergency expired, a congressional committee took up a series of measures to exert more control over the district.
Jennifer Ludden, NPR News, Washington.
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